The United States appears to have softened its demands for repayment of aid money from Kyiv during ongoing economic agreement negotiations with Ukraine, according to sources familiar with the matter reported.
During negotiations held in Washington last week, the Donald Trump administration reduced the amount of aid provided to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion by Russia from the previous $300 billion to about $100 billion. This amount approaches the $90 billion in aid estimated by the Ukrainian side.
The Trump administration is seeking an agreement from Kyiv on the joint use of future investment projects revenues, especially in the area of mineral resources and infrastructure. Washington views this as a compensation for the weapons and other assistance provided to Ukraine during the administration of Joe Biden.
According to the agreement, the US is given priority claim rights to the revenues of a special reconstruction investment fund to be established in Kyiv, and this fund will be under Washington's control. Ukraine, in turn, is seeking to renegotiate these terms, refusing to recognize the previous aids as debts.
The Ukrainian government has stated it will not comment until an agreement is signed. The White House and the US Treasury Department also declined to comment. A Treasury Department spokesperson praised the technical negotiations as very effective and expressed hope that they would be concluded soon.
Speaking about the status of negotiations on Monday, Finance Minister Scott Bessent said the Ukrainian side had presented its counterproposal over the weekend. “We are very, very close,” he told a Bloomberg News reporter in Buenos Aires. “The deal could be signed this week.”
The negotiations between technical groups on Friday and Saturday also went constructively. However, the US is still seeing covering its expenses through this fund as a primary goal. At the same time, the Trump administration is not committing to future investments in this fund and has left this issue for future discussions.
Abdulloh Sayyid
